Bend and Break
by Utenakun
Summary: Kin is not a failure.


**Title:** Bend and Break  
**Author:** vitupera  
**Series:** Naruto, mid-Chuunin exam  
**Summary:** Kin is not a failure.  
**Rating:** PG-13 for sexualized violence  
**Disclaimer:** Kin/Sakura, but not in a good way.  
**Notes:** Oh look, one from the archives! I just found this again, dated October 2010. I _believe_ it's from a very old LJ prompt on fic-on-demand, though I can't find it right now. But if it's the prompt I dimly remember, it was to write something inspired by Keane's "Bend and Break." This is. Well. Not much like the tone of that song at all, which is probably why it languished on my hard drive. Perhaps I should properly fill that prompt sometime. XD;;

* * *

Sakura. Of course that would be the name of a girl so soft and pink.

Kin is running through the darkness, though the medics said she was concussed and the world tilts dizzily around her. She runs with Zaku's good arm slung over her shoulder, the other shattered stump still seeping blood as he blearily moans through his painkillers and struggles to stay conscious. She'd come to in a hospital room, Zaku still out cold in the next bed over and Dosu nowhere to be found. But Orochimaru-sama's summons had come; she and Zaku were to report to Kabuto-san immediately.

So Kin runs, light as she can over the rooftops. It's going to take longer, because she has to trace a careful path. Two minutes ago she tried to take a shorter route over a sloped roof, and fell, like a bad genin, like a no-hitai-ate child. Stumbling out of control with Zaku's dead weight as her head buzzed furiously and refused to tell her which way was up until she finally managed to stick the soles of her feet to the roof and saw she'd only been a meter or so away from the edge. So now she is going by way of flat roofs.

Immediately, Orochimaru-sama said. Kin and Zaku, not the team, he'd said. So Dosu must already be there, she and Zaku late because of their injuries, because of their defeats. Kin ducks under a low-hanging tree branch, and Zaku weakly dips his head. So at least he's still awake, even if talking is completely beyond him. They're making good time, gradually getting away from the densely-packed buildings and the constant ambient light from windows and streetlights, moving from the center of Konoha to the meeting point on the deserted outskirts.

Kin is not a failure. She's not. That crafty shadow-user got the better of her, but without stupid spacial happenstance she would've had him, she knows it. She's the top echelon of Sound's genin, otherwise why would she be here? How else could Orochimaru-sama have trusted her to kill that boy Sasuke? Immediately, Orochimaru-sama said? She'll be there two minutes ago.

And she'll still finish the mission. The way forward is obvious, now that she thinks about it. Sitting in a hospital letting nurses buzz uselessly over you is for idiots who are afraid of their own bodies' limits. Obviously, Kabuto-san is going to do something for them, probably something forbidden, but it'll fix their wounds and get them combat-ready again. And then, of course, they'll go hunt down Sasuke. They'll put injured clones in their beds and that will give them the perfect alibi. It will work. They had to undergo public, painful, humiliating defeats after all. They had to be seen to be out of the picture. She is helping, after all, this is good, this is perfect, and Orochimaru-sama will not be angry.

If she can, Kin thinks, she's going to try to kill Sasuke right in front of his pink-haired teammate there. Watch Sakura gasp and collapse on the ground, eyes welling in tears as she witnesses the end of Kin's mission. Not lay a finger on her, oh no. She can go to her teachers babbling about Sound nins killing her crush and she'll sound crazy, they won't be able to believe her.

Or perhaps she will go ahead and lay a finger on her. It's not like cutting her hair made it impossible to grab. Perhaps when she pulls the bloody senbon out of Sasuke's throat, she'll stride over to where Sakura is collapsed and pull her up by the hair again. She remembers how that felt, lifting her easily as the other girl cringed and struggled uselessly under her fist. Then Kin can laugh at her, properly this time, make it clear what worthless trash she is. Promise her death, promise her pain, then offer to take it all back and set her free if she'll lick the senbon clean. Kin relishes the look of horror she'll see on Sakura's face, as the weapon that murdered Sasuke is waved, still gleaming redly, in front of her eyes. Kin knows she'll cry. Kin knows she'll plead. And, in the end, Kin is willing to bet her fear will win. She'll shut her eyes and slowly lick the senbon clean, just as ordered.

Kin can't wait to be proven right.

The buildings no longer stand right next to one another, and Kin can't risk more than the quick occasional hop over a small alleyway. With Zaku like this, she certainly can't manage long jumps over empty lots or backyards. So she finds a few choice window ledges and a helpful tree, and ghosts down the side of the building.

Or perhaps she will follow her, stalk her, leave just enough clues that even a hopeless and boy-crazed rookie like her can pick up on it and start to fear. She'll let Sakura tremble at shadows and shudder at stray breezes. She'll haunt her sleep, leave cryptic notes in the bentos she prepares for her teammate- surely that stupid girl fixes him lunches. Then when he asks her about them, Kin will be watching to see the look of terror on her face.

Not far now. In fact, Kin thinks she can see someone waiting at the rendezvous point already, just a few yards ahead. Zaku is getting heavier and heavier, and hasn't moved on his own for a few minutes. Probably out cold again. That's alright; Kabuto-san can fix that. Kin summons whatever is left in her legs and puts on a final burst of speed, flickering through the dappled shadows cast by trees, here and gone as instantaneously, as skillfully as any ninja ever moved.

She will make it through this, she will do whatever Orochimaru-sama requires of her, she will find that little genin girl, and then- and then-

Kin still hasn't decided what will happen then, even as she skids to a stop in front of Kabuto.


End file.
